Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Ah, San Diego Comic Con. A veritable heaven to all nerds, geeks, cosplayers, and entertainment enthusiasts. Every year, fanboys and fangirls from all walks of life gather for five days of celebrating everything pop culture. Comic books, movies, video games, you name it, you can probably find it at Comic Con. The preparations for one of the greatest entertainment expos on Earth (and other planets as well) should be bursting with feelings of excitement, not riddled with stress and confusion. Comic Con decided to change that, and a lot of other things as well. It was recently announced that SDCC would not only be raising the prices for their tickets, but will also no longer be offering weekend passes to the event.

For the record, SDCC is one of the hardest conventions to get tickets to. How hard, you may ask? For last year's show, tickets sold out completely in approximately an hour and a half. Yeah. Tickets were sold out before some of us even knew they were on sale. The theory behind removing weekend passes is to get more tickets out there to more fans who may otherwise not be able to go to the show due to the speed in which tickets sell out. Certainly a noble enough goal, but my question is this: is it even worth it?

Let's start by looking at the logistics of the scenario for someone like me. See, I'm just some average Joe living in the Midwest who, like anyone desiring to traverse across the country to SDCC, loves comics, movies and everything else offered at the convention. I would love to go! In fact, I've already been to a few conventions. The biggest is C2E2, which is an enormous show. So big, that after three days I still left Chicago feeling like I just scratched the surface of what C2E2 had to offer.

I once had a chat with a well known, professional comic book artist. I'd rather not mention his name for fear of coming across like a pretentious name dropper, and he may not want to be associated with a blathering buffoon such as myself. Anyway, we discussed the size and scope of some of the more popular conventions. According to the artist, SDCC is like ten C2E2s. Just hearing him say that made me feel overwhelmed. If SDCC is ten times larger than C2E2, and only has an additional day and half to experience the whole show... Hell, an entire weekend isn't enough, let alone one day!

It's almost more like a teaser than anything. Imagine going to the premiere restaurant in town. You wait in line for several hours, pay thousands of dollars, and are only permitted to eat an appetizer. You don't just want an appetizer after all that! You want the whole meal! For a guy like me, Mr. Average Joe, aka The Blathering Buffoon, spending almost $1,000 just ain't worth one day. I would definitely consider that for a whole weekend, because if I'm spending that kind of money, I want to get the most out of my experience.

It is true that SDCC is not prohibiting fans from going an entire weekend. Technically, you can purchase tickets for each individual day of the show. The problem is that weekend passes would be sold at a cheaper price point than buying each individual daily ticket. You would save about $10-15, generally speaking. Not only that, but holding a weekend pass also granted you access to the preview night.

Preview Night is a long held comic book convention tradition that gives VIP, and Weekend Pass ticket holders access to the show before anyone else. It's a smaller, quieter look at the show floor, and has always been granted as a reward for fans who want to see the whole show.

Technically, Preview Night is still around, but with strings attached. You see, to get access to Preview Night, you need to purchase individual tickets for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the increased prices, and no discounted cost for purchasing the now extinct weekend pass. Only then do attendees have the opportunity to purchase the Preview Night ticket. Yes, even more money out of your wallet.

Odds are, you're already spending close to $1,000 on travel, hotel and food. Tickets for the whole show, including Preview Night will come to $200. That's a $20 price increase total. That might not sound so bad, but for a lot people, $20 can go a long way. Of course, I have never been to SDCC, so all of this is based on the traditional practices of other comic book conventions. I have heard that folks have always needed to pay extra for Preview Night at SDCC, but seeing as how I have never been, I really wouldn't know for sure.

According to SDCC, the cancellation of the weekend pass is because it is, "repetitive and often lead to people purchasing a 4-day badge despite not needing to attend everyday." So... people do not need four days to see everything Comic Con has to offer? Riiiiiight. So why does SDCC go on for four days then? How come I can see everything I need to in four days at SDCC, but the much smaller C2E2, I miss 40% of the show, and I have three days. That is a load of bull crap of the stinkiest kind. You mean to tell me that there is someone who purchases a weekend pass, walks in one day and says, "Man I wish I didn't get a weekend pass. There is nothing to do at SDCC today!" I suppose it's true that people don't need to go for every day, but then again, they don't need to go to San Diego Comic Con at all, do they? Are you guys going to cancel the show? Didn't think so.

I sincerely question the motivations behind SDCC's move here. On paper, it might seem like they are trying to benefit more fans by getting them into SDCC, but in reality, the only people they are truly benefiting here is themselves. Increased prices with no way of cutting costs for attendees, and not offering weekend passes to ensure they get the most bang for their buck... It just feels like yet another business succumbing to the seduction of greed, because that $20 price raise translates to 2.6 million dollars of increased revenue to SDCC. They will get that money too, because so many people want to go to the convention, it doesn't matter if you decide its not worth the trip, someone will take your place, and maybe that guy feels like he got screwed in the end.

I predict people will spend more money they can afford just to go to San Diego Comic Con for one day, only to be denied the experience they deserve, and walk away disappointed, maybe even enraged. Meanwhile, the figureheads behind Comic Con International will be soaking in the couple extra millions they just made off of a bunch of suckers. The worst part is, SDCC is so big, and attendance to the show is so coveted, they will get away with it, and potentially set a new standard for other conventions as well. This could be the first step in the death of the weekend pass as we know it. Which sucks, because big conventions like SDCC and even C2E2 need a whole weekend to let us enjoy all the fun and spectacle that these great conventions have to offer.

So what do you guys think? Do you agree or disagree with my perspective on SDCC and their decision to remove the weekend pass? Or am I just a blathering buffoon? Leave comments below and let me know what you think!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Greetings internet! It has been way too long. I suppose I have a bit of explaining to do. Yes, I have been gone a long time. Considering the last post I made on this blog was over a year ago, and frankly, my posts prior to that were few and far between, I can imagine that many folks out there thought I was gone for good. To be honest, I thought I was as well.

You see, before I stopped writing, I had a bit of a... let's call it a "creative crisis." My comic seemed to be withering into nothingness, my editing jobs had dried up, most of the contacts I had made all but disappeared, and I could no longer foresee a scenario where I could make any profit on my writing. It wasn't long before my passion began to fade.

I tried various other avenues of publishing my words, ones that would surely offer more money making potential. However, as I began to dedicate all of my writing towards those newer, more lucrative endeavors, I had unintentionally wondered into a cage. I found that I could no longer write what I wanted to write about, in the way I wanted to write.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, or unappreciative of these jobs I took on. Many of these gigs were for very close friends of mine, and the last thing I mean to say is that I didn't want to work with them, because that is not the case. The fact remained that I was writing for them, and not for myself. In fact, that is giving myself far too much credit. In truth, I was writing for money, and essentially turned myself into the literary equivalent of a prostitute.

The more I continued down this path, the more confined I began to feel. Like a fly caught in a spider's web, the more I struggled, the more ensnared I became. And soon, I began to lose faith. The more I wrote, the less I cared. Hollow had I become in my creative pursuits, and soon I simply could write no more.

During this period, I also had thousands of other forces at work in my life, further distracting me from my ambitions. Chief among them was the most powerful force on Earth: love. An absolutely amazing woman had entered my life (she drew the above cartoon of me!), and it was only a matter of time before we were engaged. The future lingered in my mind more than ever, and I had to do something to earn enough money for us to realize such a future.

I took a job working in retail. Yeah, that's right. I sold out to the man. But you know what? It wasn't all bad. I found the work surprisingly engaging. The job I took was surprisingly physical, offering up quite an exercise routine. Lifting, jogging, stretching, squatting, that sort of thing. In fact, I've lost a lot of weight and put on some serious muscles, bra.

Eventually, the job that was fresh, new and exciting took a turn for the mundane and repetitive. One day (like.. two days ago), I had a revelation, and not of something cool like the flux capacitor. No, my revelation was much more... depressing...

Every day I go into to work I feel a portion of my soul being sapped away. I spend 5 nights a week doing the exact same thing that I have been doing for almost a year. More hours of my life are spent with my co-workers than with my fiancee. I get to go inside from 30 degree weather, right back into 30 degree weather (I work in the meat and frozen food department).

I realized on that day, that I was in Hell... a frozen over Hell, and the blue light special of the day was my soul. I was reminded of a quote from none other than Bill Murray from Groundhog Day. "It's going to be cold... it's going to grey... and it's going to last you the rest of your life."

Okay, so yes I am exaggerating a bit, but the point is, I really don't want to work in retail. Sure my bosses are nice, my coworkers are cool, and it pays the bills, but it is ultimately not what I want to do. Nor is any other job that would fit into the category of "9 to 5." I want to write. And so, here I am. Back with a vengeance, and ready to get back to what I love most.

I am taking my blog very seriously this time around. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, expect a new update. I plan on having plenty of new content this time around. Sure, I'll still have the articles, opinion columns, and reviews, but I also want to include some new stuff, and I can't wait to show you what I have planned. Every article posted will be shared on each social network I am a part of, and if that's not good enough, you can now subscribe to my blog to get the latest and greatest the second it's available.

And so, I will leave you with one last sentiment. Something I have said to many up and coming writers and artists at conventions, but had seemed to have forgotten myself. Stop waiting. Start creating.

About Me

Hey there! I'm Ryan Keyworth. I am a writer, editor, colorist and letterer. I primarily work in the comic book realm, having written and published my creator owned comic book series, Star Crossed Galaxy. I also have written several articles, columns, and reviews all across the web. You can see some of my works hosted at PCM Tech Help Show and Fanboy Buzz. Also, check out my personal blog, The Writer's Blog!